Just to let you guys know: I did a bit of spring cleaning for the thread. I deleted a whole bunch of random chatter and outdated news, also combined many short posts. As a result the thread is now 6 pages shorter and your post count may be a bit lower than before. All the important information, reviews and conversations should still be intact, though.

This is not to discourage chatting in this thread, just an annual clean up (the first in 6 years...) to make the thread more compact and detele stuff that is no longer relevant.

How are Makiguchi's Virgin Breaker Yuki films? Both are playing in Tokyo on 35mm, and I might have a chance to catch them, but I'm not sure they are my cup of sake. I'm not too interested in sexploitation per se, so would need to have other elements to keep my attention, e.g. violence, stylish cinematography, groovy soundtrack etc. As a comparison, I'm not a fan of Suzuki's period pinks like Tokugawa Sex Ban (or the modern day Modern Porno Tale) either... but I do love Teruo Ishii's Tokugawa films.

Starring Jun Izumi and directed by Naosuke Kurosawa, who did the jaw dropping pink-giallo Zoom In: Rape Apartments (now available on R1 under the title Sex Apartments) in the same year. Weisser's (wholly unreliable) book praises the film for strong script and stylish cinematography

An ambitious coming of age drama from Noboru Tanaka, with a misleadin crude English title and roman porno labelling. I actually caught this on 35mm last year as a part of a touring Nikkatsu retrospective. Dirt aside, the print was in excellent quality, so you can probably expect a solid transfer from the dvd as well. Below is my mini-review from last year.

Rape and Death of a Housewife (1978) [35mm]
Noboru Tanaka’s docudrama based on real life case of three youngsters raping and killing the wife of a man they had made friends with. Although released under Nikkatsu’s roman porno banner, the film is a serious coming of age drama. It serves as an example of the extraordinary freedom the studio occasionally granted to its most valuable directors. In Rape and Death of a Housewife Tanaka tones down the sex and skillfully builds tension and storyline. The cast and characters are reasonably good, especially Hideo Murota as the victim’s husband. There is a nostalgic aura to the film, as well as effective use of docudrama tools, but the ending comes somewhat abrupt. With so much build up, a stronger ending would have been sufficient.

DMM’s VoD pinku channel was one of the more pleasant discoveries of the recent, packing nearly 500 Nikkatsu Roman Porno films. My one month subscription came to an end after 26 movies viewed! Gotta do another month later when I have more time as I found tons of cool stuff. The biggest discoveries were Yukihiro Sawada's Assault (1976) - a grim exploitation drama of a couple captured by three criminal on the run. The staggeringly powerful and poetic ending like straight out of a Sam Peckinpah movie. Toshiya Fujita’s hyper-realistic bad girl drama Female Delinquent: A Docu-Drama (1977) is another gem, full of great cinematography, terrific acting, and superb rock music. And as the best of them all, Naosuke Kurosawa's brilliant, existential city drama Ecstasy Sisters (1982). This one's even available on DVD. Fans of ATG films of the era should love it, and it's one of the best roman pornos ever made.

The remaining Naosuke Kurosawa films were hit and miss. Banned: Woman’s Secret Pictures (1983) is a WWII set film with Wakamatsu-esque politics, but ultimately not that impressive in terms of characters or visuals. Fake Widow (Nise mibôjin - Ichijiku hakusho, 1984) is a pretty worthless romantic pink aimed at middle aged female audiences – like an mainstream film with extra sex scenes. Surprisingly, though, the same year’s Lolita Wife (Lolita tsuma: Binetsu) is a cute and fun film with humour, good cinematography, and a baby stealing rocker! Young Lady Detectives: Heart Beat (1987) is another decently enjoyable semi-mainstream detective-romance-comedy, most notable for starring martial arts girl Michiko Nishiwaki. DVD available, too

Tatsumi Kumashiro’s incredible sleaze fest docu-drama Oh! Women: A Dirty Song (1981), starring rocker Yuya Uchida as himself, however is excellent (and out on OOP DVD that costs a fortune). Great music, great performances by Uchida and Rikiyoa Yasuoka, and loads of jaw dropping scenes. Another great discovery is Kichitaro Negishi’s misleadingly titled Rape Ceremony (1980), which is actually a superb, atmospheric, ATG esque youth film about two violent generations facing each other. Negishi’s debut film From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder (1978) is also quite a strong youth/drama/thriller, again with the atmosphere of an ATG film.

Koyu Ohara’s Pink Hip Girl sequels didn’t match the excellent original. Love Attack (1979) is a pale shadow of its predecessor, feeling like a low budget American TV show a lot of the time. It does feature the cool disco hit Funky Disco Princess, though. Proposal Strategy is a much better effort, bringing back the travel theme, dispatching its heroines to the snowy Hokkaido. The film is essentialy a youth pic suitable for teen audiences as well. Personal bonus from locations; the film takes place in three cities; one of them I have visited more than 10 times, another one I have lived in, and the third one I currently reside in. I can recognize essentially every location used in the film.

Oh Takarazuka (1984) is another enjoyable, but not exceptional, Ohara pop-art film. This time Ohara helms a cute harem fantasy (male high school teacher in a all girls’ school) that is like straight out of a comic book. Cool old fashioned rock soundtrack na,d leading girl Jun Miho, who was the most beautiful actress ever to appear in a roman porno film. Akai tori ame (1980) is a far less successful feature with ridiculous (serious) youth drama screenplay starring Nikkatsu’s rape queen Yuki Kazamatsuri. It does have some cool rock and disco moments, though.

Masaru Konuma’s Getting Raped (1976) turned out an enjoyable, pretty well scripted crime thriller despite the Weissers’ utterly negative review. Has a few rapes, no normal sex scenes at all! DVD is out, too. More Weisser insanity in their review for the rather good neo noir Rouge (1984). Who knows where they (and Allmovie’s Robert Firsching) copied their reviews as they explain in much detail an ending that isn’t in the film. Add to the mystery, the Japanese movie website Movie Walker explains yet another different ending that isn’t in the film. I doubt there could be alternate versions of the film (this one is 94 min minus studio logos), though Ishii’s original screenplay could differ from what was put on the screen.

Shogoro Nishimura’s Female Teacher: Twice Raped (1983) is a pretty boring violent pinku melodrama full of sex scenes, but also some nice genre nostalgia. Never understood why Nishimura’s movies were so popular. Depending on how you count, it’s either part 9 or 13 in the series, not 8 like some sources claim. One Summer Experience: Sexy Virgin (1976) is another failure, a surreal and somewhat original, but clumsy film with forced sex scenes. Even much worse is photographer Nobuyoshi Araki’s snooze fest of a comedy, High School Girl Fake Diary (1980). Fairy in a Cage (1977) I can appreciate in theory for its social themes and accuracy in historical details, but SM movies just aren’t for me, nor was this one. And finally, bottom of the barrel, Hell in a Bottle (1986). The poster art is great, and indeed there is a girl in a bottle at the end, but otherwise this is just a series of cheap sex scenes, much more like an AV flick than a real Nikkatsu film.

I may post a bit longer mini-reviews of some of the films later if I have enough time.

Hmm. I know there was GIRL BOSS MAFIA from March 1980 and GIRL BOSS MAFIA: DISGRACE from September 1980. I'm guessing the latter is the same as GBF: A DIRTY INSULT, but it would be interesting to know if perhaps there are actually three (or more) in the series.

Marshall wrote:Hmm. I know there was GIRL BOSS MAFIA from March 1980 and GIRL BOSS MAFIA: DISGRACE from September 1980. I'm guessing the latter is the same as GBF: A DIRTY INSULT, but it would be interesting to know if perhaps there are actually three (or more) in the series.

I figured out I must have missed something when I said I watched 26 films and there's only 20 titles listen in my post

Yes, Dirty Insult and Disgrace are the one and same film unless I'm totally mistaken. Sukeban Mafia: Chijoku is the Japanese title. It's an inferior sequal to Toshiharu Ikeda's original. Very much a by-the-book sexploilation film. Genre nostalgia is there, yes, but not much more. Imagine Toei's weaker sukeban/high school films, add sex, take away most of the violence, and replace the Toei cast with Nikkatsu starlets acting tough. That being said, I wasn't a big fan of Ikeda's film either, but this certainly weaker yet.

Delinquent girl films lived their golden age in early 1970’s when Toei was churning out hard boiled pinky violence movies such as Sukeban (seven films, 1971-1974) and Terrifying Girls’ High School (four films, 1972-1974). Nikkatsu also jumped the bandwagon with films such as True Story of Sex and Violence in a Female High School (1973) and Sukeban Sex Violence (1973). Toshiharu Ikeda’s Sukeban Mafia (1980) was a late addition to the genre that had lost its popularity after the mid 70’s. Nobuyuki Saito’s Sukeban Mafia: A Dirty Insult is a follow-up to Ikeda’s successful film.

Ikeda’s film was no great thrills, but for a Nikkatsu production it featured some good ideas and energetic scenes. Saito’s sequel is a by-the-book cash-in with few merits. It follows two high school girls who are saved from the gangsters by the local girl mafia, only to find out the female mafia doesn’t make a much better friend.

Saito emphasises dull sex scenes over violent content. There is little creativity or energy to be found in the production, not to mention the wholly unconvincing cast of Nikkatsu pink starlets trying to play tough. There is no comparison to Toei’s films which frequently utilized real gangsters as consults and even actors.

What little excitement remains comes from a handful of fun scenes featuring a small army of high school girls, and some good music in bar scenes. The genre itself is nostalgic, though, as today’s z-grade sukeban films make even Nikkatsu’s low budget productions seem like a class act in comparison.

Director Saito was known as a promising screenwriter and assistant director, being involved in many ambitious projects such as Yukihiro Sawada’s Peckinpahian violence study Assault (1976) and Chusei Sone’s time capsule Shinjuku midaregai: Ikumade matte (1977). Saito’s own early directorial effort Woman of the Afternoon: Incite (1979) is also a small cult gem. Unfortunately Sukeban Mafia: Dirty Insult has none of the ambition and freshness of those films.

Screencaps (DMM stream, most likely from the Nikkatsu VHS)

edit: after "discovering" this review that I had written a month ago and forgotten all about, I summarized it into a mini review for another thread, only to find out I've already posted a mini review there 2 weeks ago I give up. Too much pink.

Nikkatsu’s former action film director Yukihiro Sawada helms a violence study somewhat similar to Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. The film follows a married couple kidnapped by a gang of ruthless killers and kept captive until the husband takes a stand.

Although a rough exploitation drama for the main chunk of it, the film features some stunningly powerful and melancholic moments, including a violent eight minute climax set against perfectly timed songs by Hako Yamasaki and Yusaku Matsuda.

Unlike many other Nikkatsu films of the time, the film does not romanticise violence and rape. Any slight eroticism found early on suffers a quick inflation when we see a villain digging a bullet out his stomach with scissors, and a rape victim violently screaming and fighting against throughout an attack scene. The latter goes against the genre conventions of the time, though the film’s female roles are eventually ungrateful to say at least.

In addition, Sawada shows eye for atmosphere and characterization. There is a melancholic undertone throughout the film, starting from the beautiful opening scene that introduces the husband – alone and abandoned by his wife, who returns home at night and picks the wedding ring from the bottom of an aquarium.

It is the film’s middle third, bleak but perhaps not that poignant, that suffers in comparison to the brilliantly crafted opening and closing scenes.

The songs featured in the unforgettable climax are "Tsuna Watari" by Hako Yamasaki and "Aru kodomo no hanashi" by Yusaku Matsuda.

Delicate Skillful Fingers is quite famous, Tooru Murakawa's debut film for which Kinema Junpo declared him as one of the best directors in Japan. The film was also included in Nikkatsu's nation wide roman porno retro last year. There is an old dvd release of it actually, from 2003, but this is surely a new remaster.

Reissues of Path of the Beast and Lovers are Wet will also be released.

It seems that catalogue numbers (NYK) 201-210 are new anamorphic prints, while the rest (211-240) are old masters, rouhgly VHS quality. If you look search for back covers you can find a mention of new print and aspect ratio:

"To gain admittance you first must visit a vending machine that sits unceremoniously in front of the theater. By purchasing your 1,100 yen ticket you can stay as long as you wish through a triple bill ... After you’ve purchased your ticket from the vending machine you ironically have to hand it over to the guy working at the ticket window. After he wishes you a merry wanking, the real adventure begins.

Walking into the 81-seat theater is like walking into the movie room your middle school might have had. It’s tiny, but extremely comfortable, aside from the fact that there are around ten to fifteen old men staring at a screen with a women being taken from behind on it. The 35mm film is being projected so close behind your head that you can almost feel the heat from the bright light bulb inside of it.

The sound system, which has not only the marching sounds of the 35mm projector to compete with, but also the frequent trains running over head, which literally rock your seat, is passable to say the least, with the right side speaker dominating the left, turning the room a weird aural experiment that will likely leave you a bit dizzy.

The bathroom is mockingly positioned to the immediate right of the large screen, meaning that if you want to get up to play with your bits and pieces everyone is going to see you making a run for it. Thankfully the old men are beyond such embarrassments, as they willing hobble towards the bathroom, cane in hand, with the utmost dignity, only to stumble out four minutes later looking a tad defeated."
- http://everything2.com/title/Shimbashi+Roman+Gekijo

"To gain admittance you first must visit a vending machine that sits unceremoniously in front of the theater. By purchasing your 1,100 yen ticket you can stay as long as you wish through a triple bill ... After you’ve purchased your ticket from the vending machine you ironically have to hand it over to the guy working at the ticket window. After he wishes you a merry wanking, the real adventure begins.

Walking into the 81-seat theater is like walking into the movie room your middle school might have had. It’s tiny, but extremely comfortable, aside from the fact that there are around ten to fifteen old men staring at a screen with a women being taken from behind on it. The 35mm film is being projected so close behind your head that you can almost feel the heat from the bright light bulb inside of it.

The sound system, which has not only the marching sounds of the 35mm projector to compete with, but also the frequent trains running over head, which literally rock your seat, is passable to say the least, with the right side speaker dominating the left, turning the room a weird aural experiment that will likely leave you a bit dizzy.

The bathroom is mockingly positioned to the immediate right of the large screen, meaning that if you want to get up to play with your bits and pieces everyone is going to see you making a run for it. Thankfully the old men are beyond such embarrassments, as they willing hobble towards the bathroom, cane in hand, with the utmost dignity, only to stumble out four minutes later looking a tad defeated."
- http://everything2.com/title/Shimbashi+Roman+Gekijo

As expected, Shimbashi Bunka was worth every yen. In addition to what was mentioned before, I got to witness:

- An old man whose hand started making suspicious movement during the first and second sex scene in Trap of Lust. I dared not take a closer look

- The same man leaving the theatre and mumbling something, obviously irritated, after the film turns into a Seijun Suzuki style killer/spy metafilm instead of pink flick.

- Audience members falling asleep after the fore mentioned twist

- An audience with average age around 55 - and not a single woman...

- ...until one female entering the theatre in male companion for the second screening

- The poor lady falling asleep with her palm covering her face during Assault! Jack the Ripper

- An elderly man leaving for bathroom during the film, and another man entering and taking his place meanwhile. 25 minutes later the men start arguing (during the film) whose bag belongs to who – both had placed their bags on the same seat without realizing it.

All this with one 1300 yen film ticket (that gives you entrance to the theatre – you can stay as long as you want). And of course, seeing this films in 35mm is a joy in itself!

Just a random post but not sure where else to put it... has anyone else pointed out that Kanye West (or director Nick Night) totally ripped off the motorcycle sex scene from Queen Bee's Counterattack in his Bound 2 video? wtf

Starring Jun Izumi and directed by Naosuke Kurosawa, who did the jaw dropping pink-giallo Zoom In: Rape Apartments (now available on R1 under the title Sex Apartments) in the same year. Weisser's (wholly unreliable) book praises the film for strong script and stylish cinematography

I don't feel confident enough about my ability to follow the plot details to comment about the qualities of the script but I agree about the cinematography. I also rather liked the punk/rock soundtrack.

I watched it too, on cropped and not-so-hot VoD transfer. Nice neo noir, though not as great as Kurosawa's best films. I also liked the soundtrack and cinematography. A bit too much sex in it, though.

I sort of got the impression of Kurosawa that up till his masterpiece Ecstasy Sisters in 1982 the guy was working real hard to prove his worth, but after that he maybe lost some motivation. His early films are all staggeringly stylish and often original, so much more than pink films ought to be. Ecstasy Sisters was the peak - a masterful slice of life Tokyo film that could easily have been released by ATG. Next came the Wakamatsu/Konuma esque period film Banned: Woman’s Secret Pictures which was sort of ambitious but IMO failed. After that all of Kurosawa's remaining roman porno's were lightweight comedies (Lolita Wife), romances (Fake Widow), or comedy/romance/thrillers (Young Lady Detectives). The one exception was his final Nikkatsu release, Dream Crimes, which however is an utter mess of a neo noir if you ask me.

The one Kurosawa I haven't seen is Nurses' Journal: Animal In the Afternoon. I want to see it, but I need to sign up for a mail delivery dvd rental first...

HungFist wrote:The one exception was his final Nikkatsu release, Dream Crimes, which however is an utter mess of a neo noir if you ask me.

Do you mean 夢犯 (1985), with the Takashi Ishii screenplay? I've been meaning to track that down on VHS eventually, same as ルージュ (1984).

Yep. Don't set your expectations too high. It's like a B-version of the first Black Angel movie. Kurosawa + Ishii sounded like a dream team, but this is both of them at their worst.

Rouge is kinda good. The main problem is with the ending, which is way too simple considering the skilful build-up. This may be the director's (Nasu) or the studio's fault rather than Ishii's. Weisser and Robert Firsching both write identical non-sense fairytales about the film's ending - none of the stuff they describe is actually in the film. To add to the confusion, the Japanese website Movie Walker describes yet another slightly different ending with stuff that isn't in the film. Just to make sure I'm not crazy I had my (Japanese) girlfriend watch the last 30 min of the film and she agreed, all the plot descriptions were all nonsense.

I don't know what's going on here, but I find it hard to believe there would be several different versions of the film out there. Perhaps the film's screenplay is available, or maybe there's a manga version, or an early plot description or something, that these "professionals" used as their reference, I don't know... The VoD version I watched was no doubt taken from the VHS and runs the same 94 or 95 min that all databases quote as the running time...

Explanation with spoilers:

Both Weisser and Firsching praise the film for an ambiguous ending which leaves it unclear whether the killer (of Muraki) was Nami or her reporter boyfriend. Actually there's no ambiguity at all. We see in long detailed scene how Nami stabs him, blood sprays all over her, and she even washes the blood in the next scene. The reporter is sleeping at the hotel all this time, and when she comes back and is about to smoke a cigarette, he takes a lighter out of her bag and discovers the lighter is covered in blood (because Muraki used it when he was killed). Talk about ambiguous ending...

Movie Walker "makes up" something else. They explain that after the killing Nami walks on the pier and hears someone calling her name... Actually no one calls her name. She's alone and just throws the lighter into the sea. The end.

Except for the ending the film is a stylish neo noir with good acting, good characters and good storyline. As the 94 minute running time suggests, it's not much of a typical Nikkatsu exploitation flick, but something that would essentially pass as a mainstream film. Director Hiroyuki Nasu isn't known as the studio's top director, but here he handles the material quite well. The film certainly has a strong Ishii feeling, resembling his other drama-driven films like Original Sin, Alone in the Night, A Night in Nude, or Love Hotel, though it's not quite as good as those films.

English language sources usually consider this a part of the Angel Guts series, but I think it's pretty safe to say that's nonsense, too. Just being a neo noir scripted by Ishii, and featuring Nami and Muraki as characters (like almost all screenplays Ishii ever wrote), doesn't make it a part of the series...